A lot has been made recently of the impressive clip of Borna Barisic’s ‘assist’ in training. We must say, on the surface, ‘big whoop’ – Croat international crosses the ball accurately.

However, the content pre-season from the Algarve has heavily featured the ex-Osijek man, and we must admit he looks extremely happy all of a sudden, and dare we say it, more settled.

The clip aside, he just looks much more in the groove – and obviously he didn’t get a pre-season at Ibrox last campaign with his not joining till deep into the European adventure.

Could it be this season Steven Gerrard is set to finally get the best from a player who, theoretically, could be one of the most valuable assets at the club?

We know, we know, we’ve rabbited on about the fact he’s a Croat international for an intrinsically world class side, and not just an international but an outright regular and becoming one of the first names on Zlatko Dalic’s team sheet.

And if Rangers can get his Croatia self into the colours of the Light Blue shirt that employs him, instantly we have one of the best players in the SPL.

If Kieran Tierney is worth £25M and no one even blinks an eye, a potentially world class player like Borna Barisic certainly is, and more.

We just like seeing him look genuinely content for the first time since his move to Rangers. The fact is his signing was a disaster, and last season was a wash out.

If this pre-season is anything to go by, and we hope it is, he looks better equipped, better prepared and simply mentally ready to deal with the upcoming season. He’s had 10 months experience of it already so he definitely knows the requirements now.

Steven Gerrard knows the player we all hoped he’d signed. That player was AWOL last season. We couldn’t have driven him to the airport fast enough ourselves.

But now? With a pre-season under his belt and a big grin plastered across his face? Sure – it definitely seems more believable now.